The United Arab Emirates will continue to invest in Egypt, especially in petroleum and renewable energy, UAE Energy Minister Mohamed Bin Dhaen Al-Hamli said. Egypt has been a chief destination for UAE investments both before and after the 25 January revolution, Hamli told Egypt Independent on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress meeting in Doha, Qatar. The UAE does not intend to halt investments in Egypt, the minister emphasized, adding that Dana Gas, an Emirati company and the Middle East's leading private sector natural gas firm, is one of the largest gas producers in Egypt. According to Hamli, the UAE also owns more than 15 percent of the Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company, which transports petroleum from Suez to Alexandria ports for shipping to European and American markets. Egyptian media reported in April that a number of Gulf countries had threatened to withdraw their investments from Egypt and sack Egyptian workers in their countries if former President Hosni Mubarak, once a strong ally to Gulf regimes, was prosecuted. Mubarak's trial, which began in August, is scheduled to reconvene later this month. Ismail Etman, a member of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), denied those reports at the time. Earlier, Al-Hamli said a new crude oil pipeline that will bypass the strategically sensitive Strait of Hormuz is almost finished. He declined to say when the pipeline would open, though his comments suggest it could become operational soon. The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline project aims to ship crude from the UAE's main oil producing region to the port of Fujairah on the country's Gulf of Oman coast. That would allow some of the OPEC member's oil to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, access to which is shared by Iran and Oman. Agencies __
